Come Away With Me
by DamnedEitherWay
Summary: She lives in the light of darkness. He exists in the darkness of light. With every passing second, she nears the time when she will at last follow him into the eternal night.
1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note: **This story idea came out of nowhere. So, here goes nothing.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything related to House M.D. and this story is just a product of my imagination.

* * *

_He_ lurked about the shadows in the day. _He_ came forth to taunt her at night.

Her parents had always dismissed her sightings as the product of either a far-fetched invention from an attention-seeking child or a rich imagination from a bored child.

"Dad, who's that?" She would ask, pointing with her tiny index finger at the dark figure standing in the corner of the living room.

"What are you talking about, sweetie? There's no one there." He would reply, staring down at the wide-eyed little girl attached to his side.

_He_ had followed her, haunted her for as long as she could remember. _He_ was the constant reminder of something she could not escape.

"Is there something interesting in your mug?" The sound of a familiar voice pulled Thirteen out of her spiral of thoughts.

She looked up to see Taub staring inquisitively at her.

"No, I was just... daydreaming."

_He_ always had a way of invading her mind, with a hypnotizing dream or a horrifying nightmare. She set down the cup of coffee in her hands onto the glass table and grimaced as she pushed it aside. The colour of the beverage reminding her of _him_.

"I sure hope it involves some hot girl-on-girl action." House said as he hobbled through the door.

Everyone in the conference room perked up once the great diagnostician announced his arrival.

"So do I." She breathed out.

"Why? Not getting any lately?" House mocked. His facial expression was one made of artificial sympathy.

She merely stared at her boss with a blank expression as if she had her soul sucked out of her.

"Do we have a case or what?" Foreman asked impatiently. His facial expression was one made of artificial intelligence.

House narrowed one of his eyes at Thirteen, waiting for a response that never came. After about five seconds of a stare-off contest, he gave up.

"12 year-old boy with spiking fever, congested chest, coughed up green sputum, pain in breathing and an odd little rash, a papular lesion on his arm. Go." He said as he wrote down the list of symptoms on the white board.

"Pneumonia." Kutner suggested.

House stopped his writing and turned to stare at him with a look of disbelief plastered all over his face. "_Yeah._ Like I would take a case with a diagnosis of pneumonia. Next."

"Pneumonia wouldn't explain the lesion anyway. Could be Legionnaire's disease." Taub chipped in.

Thirteen shook her head. "What if we're thinking about this backwards? The rash could have come first, caused the pneumonia. Tick bites. We're in New Jersey so it's most likely Lyme disease."

House nodded in accord. "Give him fluids and cefuroxime. And biopsy that rash."

His team of do-gooders then shuffled out of the room to carry out his orders.

* * *

As they strode down the hallway to their patient's room, several nurses rushed past them into another room and they struggled to get out of the way, with Kutner narrowly avoiding the one pushing the crash cart.

Thirteen glanced into the room out of curiosity and she stopped dead in her tracks.

There _he_ was again.

_He_ was standing by the bedside. A nurse was standing in that exact same spot, but she overlapped _his_ presence.

Thirteen stared at _him_, spellbound by the dark figure.

Her surroundings had gone quiet and everything was happening in slow motion. She felt herself drawn towards _him_.

She heard her own heart pounding hard against her chest. The only difference from usual circumstance was that the sound of it was amplified a hundred times. Her ear drums vibrated painfully with each thump.

_He_ reached _his_ arm out, summoning her forward.

She tried to resist the beckoning call, but _he_ was getting closer and closer and closer...

"Thirteen!"

She staggered back a step as if reality was slammed right back into her. She stared wide-eye at Foreman, who had just shouted her nickname, as she tried to get a grip of herself.

Suddenly, the mess of noise from her surroundings reverberated into her ears all at once, like waves of sonic boom. She pressed her hands against her ears, trying to block them out. Her features scrunching together in agony.

Her eyes shot opened when her hearing had reverted back to normal and came upon the concerned faces of her fellow team members.

"Hey, are you alright? What happened?" Kutner asked, frowning.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay." She replied, panting heavily.

Thirteen snapped her sight back to _him_, but _he_ was gone.

The monotonous sound of a heart monitor flat-lining resonated from the room. She squeezed her eyes shut in exasperation.

There went another one.

"Are you sure?" Taub asked, utterly unconvinced by the assurance.

"I am." She said as she nodded. "Let's go. We have a rash to biopsy."

She stepped out of the small crowd and moved towards their patient's room in resolution. But when she noticed only her shadow following behind, she turned back.

The other three doctors were standing rooted in their spots, staring at her in incredulity.

"I think maybe you should rest for a bit, get yourself check out in the ER. We don't know what happen to you. It could be serious." Foreman spoke.

"I've already said I'm okay. I don't need to be check out."

She knew exactly what had happened to her.

"You don't know that. Why don't just get yourself down to the ER and get an all-clear from one of the doctors, then I'll let you continue working. Otherwise, go home and get some rest." Foreman replied in full authority mode.

"Fine." She stated simply before turning on her heels and made her way down to the ER.

* * *

Thirteen sat on the bed in the ER, waiting impatiently for one of the doctors to tend to her.

She hated being in the ER. She just wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. And fortunately for her, she knew there was nothing physical wrong with her, so getting the all-clear was not going to be that big of a problem.

As her mind drifted back to the incident earlier, she mentally reprimanded herself for putting herself in such a vulnerable position again. She should have known better.

She clearly remembered the first time she felt the unnatural pull towards _him_. It was the day her mother died.

Her father was holding her close to his side as they stood by the door of her mother's room in the care facility.

Doctors and nurses were rushing in and out, trying to delay the inevitable.

_He_ was standing there by her bed, looking down at the woman.

"Dad, it's him again. Right there, by mum's bed." She said, pointing in the direction of the dark figure.

"Remy, would you just stop your nonsense! Your mum is dying for god's sake!" He yelled, tears streaming down his cheeks.

She stared at _him_, wondering what _he_ was going to do.

In a blink, _he_ had turned towards her. She didn't even see _him _move.

She continued to stare straight at _him_, unable to look away. Her surroundings were disappearing, noises were fading away. She felt herself slowly floating up into the air, losing all control of her body.

Then, bam!

She was back in the room again. Only this time, her mother wasn't. She was lying still on the bed. No flailing. No screaming. No thrashing. Nothing. She was dead.

Remy caught a final glimpse of her before she and _him_ disappeared together. Vanished into thin air.

She was happy. The person she hated the most in the world gone along with the thing she hated the most in the world, or so she had thought.

Thirteen realized now that her mother had probably saved her from _him_.

The Grim Reaper.

* * *

**Yes, that's right. The Grim Reaper.**

**Now that this is out of my system, I can turn my attention back to my other story. But do let me know what you think!**


	2. Death Curse

"It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." ~ **Eleanor Roosevelt**

**

* * *

**

Thirteen gazed up at the pale yellowish-orange white light above as she lied down with her back flat on the scratchy bed. Her hands were resting on her abdomen with fingers intertwining. As the balmy light shone down on her, it gave her the illusion of being bathed in the pleasant warmth of morning sunlight.

She refused to close her eyes, in trepidation of falling into the pit of massive black hole, even as her eyelids felt like they were trying to hold up weights just to keep her eyes open.

"Dr. Hadley?" A confused voice called out.

Thirteen turned her head to the source of the voice and came upon the gentle face of Allison Cameron.

She pushed herself up first with her elbows, then with the palms of her hands. Drowsiness gone in a blink. She reflexively ran a hand through her brown hair as she swung her legs off the bed, which hung a few inches off the ground.

"What are you doing here? I thought you have a patient." Cameron asked, playing with the maroon-coloured file she was holding.

"I do. I just need to be checked out before I can check on him." Thirteen answered, managing to keep her voice steady as she spoke.

She couldn't explain where the sudden rush of nervousness came from and ignorantly attributed it to the fact that she had hardly ever interacted with the blonde doctor.

Cameron frowned as her innate concern surfaced, resulting in a few crinkles on her otherwise smooth forehead.

"Why do you need to be checked out? What's wrong?" She asked in quick succession, taking a couple of hurried steps forward.

"Foreman." Thirteen stated with a hint of displeasure. "And in case you're wondering, yes, that's my answer to both questions."

The smile on Cameron's face was so small, it was barely noticeable, but Thirteen had managed to catch it somehow. She then found the corners of her own mouth twitching upwards as well.

"Well, he must think there's something wrong with you to have sent you down here to the ER. So... Is there?"

Cameron raised a prompting eyebrow when she saw the hesitant expression on Thirteen's face.

"It's just a headache, nothing too big." Thirteen said at last, downplaying the severity of her episode. She added a dismissive wave of her hand to emphasize her point.

"Huh. Why don't I believe that?" Cameron asked semi-rhetorically.

She tossed the file in her hands onto the bedside table as she closed the distance between her and Thirteen, before stopping right in front of the brunette doctor.

Thirteen had a smartass answer at the tip of her tongue when she saw Cameron striding purposefully up towards her. So instead of letting the riposte loose, she sucked it back with a sharp intake of breath. She stared with widening eyes at the approaching woman and leaned a quarter of an inch backwards with every advancing step she took.

Thirteen could never have imagined that sweet ol' Cameron had the ability to be as intimidating as she was at that moment. Or at least it just seemed that way to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked in annoyance. "Can you please stop that?"

Cameron was holding her face in her hands, gently turning it from side to side. And despite her protest, Thirteen showed no sign of resistance.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm examining you. You've never done it before as a doctor?" Cameron retorted, showing her sarcastic side.

Thirteen rolled her eyes before they settled on the porcelain face close in front of her own, admiring the delicate features.

It was a picture of perfection.

"Any history of migraines or cluster headaches?" Cameron asked as she moved her hands down to the neck, pressing down lightly on the muscles with each finger.

Thirteen's mind blanked. The hairs on the back of her neck stood, which was followed by the rest of the others down throughout her body. An effect much like the reversal of dominos collapsing.

"Dr. Hadley?"

Cameron directed her sight back to Thirteen's face when she received no response, only to see her staring back with an uncomprehending countenance and she found herself entranced by enticing bluish-green eyes.

"No."

That one simple word snapped Cameron out of the spell she was in. There was a fleeting feeling of emptiness that came over her once she tore her gaze away, sending chills down the length of her spine. She collected herself quickly and went back to examining Thirteen, wondering in her mind what had just transpired.

Thirteen bit the inside of her lower lip to keep herself from smiling at noticing the flustered expression of her attending doctor, but her bite lost its grip when she spotted a dark figure in the corner of her eyes.

_He_ was standing motionless by the nurses' station with the base of _his _scythe resting on the floor as _he_ held it upright, close to _his _side. It was a pose similar to a royal guard of England. Unseen eyes in the hollowness of _his_ hood seemed to stare straight at her.

Thirteen looked away, her heart beating fast against her chest.

"Are you done?" She asked impatiently, fidgeting on the bed.

"Ah... I haven't taken your blood pressure yet." Cameron said as she retracted her hands and straightened her body posture, taken aback by the sudden hostile attitude.

"That won't be necessary." Thirteen replied with a shake of her head.

She glanced nervously towards _his_ direction before moving to get off the bed with Cameron taking a couple of steps back instinctively. She needed to get out of there, even if the escape from _his _presence was merely temporary.

"Is something wrong?" Cameron asked tentatively. The dramatic shift in air around Thirteen was perplexing.

"No, I just have to get back to my patient. This is a waste of time, there's nothing wrong with me."

Yes, there was.

"Okay... But if you feel sick again, you _have to_ come back here and let me help you." Cameron ordered, putting on her version of a stern expression.

Thirteen smirked humourlessly. There was nothing anyone could do to help her. She went along with Cameron though, seeing how there's no point in arguing.

"Sure, I will." She replied with the utmost of sincerity.

She took off in the direction of the exit straight after in a rush, turning her head back when she reached the egress to see _him_ still standing in place.

_His_ head snapped to her in an instant, startling her. It was like _he _had sucked out a small part of her soul with that one vacant look. She was suddenly having trouble breathing with her airway seemingly closing up, squeezing life out of her. She quickly turned back while she still could, and took several deep breaths to breathe in the oxygen she so desperately needed.

Thirteen accelerated her pace from a walk into a jog when her breathing was almost back to normal, trying to put as much distance between them as fast as possible.

Cameron stared after Thirteen as she made her way out of the ER and noticed her face appeared to have paled from something she saw when she looked back. She followed her line of sight to the nurses' station, but there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as she could see.

Cameron shrugged the incident off and went back to work, ascribing everything to the mystery that Thirteen was.

* * *

"Where's Thirteen?" House asked, twirling the cane in his hand as he sat behind his desk with his criss-crossed legs up on it. He had noticed that his team had just walked into his office with one man short.

"She's down in the ER, getting herself checked out." Foreman answered.

"Why? People in the rest of the hospital aren't enough?" House responded, a mock expression of incredulity on his face.

Kutner and Taub smiled in amusement while Foreman shot him his classic bland look of annoyance.

"We were on our way to the patient's room and she looked like she was having some sort of a severe headache, kind of like an explosion head syndrome. She insists that she's fine, but I had her go down to the ER just to make sure." The dark-skinned doctor explained. The concern he implied he had though, was not reflected in his monotonous tone of voice.

They all turned their heads around at the sound of the glass door opening.

Thirteen halted her progress, her hand gripping the door handle, at the odd looks she was given by the occupants in the room. She arched a questioning eyebrow before continuing her steps forward.

"Well, speak of the devil."

She froze almost instantaneously upon hearing the offhanded remark, staring wide-eye at House who had just gotten out of his seat and was limping towards her.

"What?" She breathed out.

"We were just talking about you and your little trip to the ER." He continued, sensing a level of anxiety by the look on her face.

"What did the doctor say? Is everything okay?" Kutner asked, his tone of voice a stark contrast to Foreman's.

Thirteen looked to him and nodded. "Yeah, Cameron says I'm fine."

In a way.

"So what's the diagnosis? Did she manage to find out what's wrong? Order a head CT or a MRI maybe?" Foreman questioned.

"There is nothing to diagnose because there's nothing wrong with me. I don't need to have any damn scan of my head, so could you just please get off my back?" Thirteen snapped irritably, pinching the bridge of her nose.

She didn't have a headache before, but she had one now.

"Yeah Foreman, back off." House growled mockingly, raising his voice as an imitation of Thirteen's. "You've already removed the tumour in her head the last time round, remember?"

"Shut up, House." Foreman barked, a deep annoying frown on his face.

Thirteen clenched her jaw and shot House a glare.

She didn't need to be reminded of the infamous drug-switch incident, which had caused her to spend days in obscurity. She was living in constant fear that she might not be able to return to the light and would remain forever trapped in perpetual darkness. The burning flame in her mind was the only thing that kept her sanity intact as fear threatened to rip it apart.

The whole ordeal was beyond torturous.

"If the three of you are done snapping at each other, can we get back to our 12 year-old patient who has an undiagnosed illness that could be killing him?" Taub asked.

He had his eyebrows turned upwards and an awkward half-smile on his face, looking at them with expectance.

"Kill-joy." House labelled, narrowing his eyes at the short doctor as he limped away from Thirteen. "What's the result for the biopsy?"

"The rash is filled with fatty tissues. It's not Lyme Disease. Serological test came back negative." Kutner replied.

House looked away from the team, staring wistfully into space as his brilliant mind tried to make sense of things.

"Go get a history of where he's been in the past few days." He ordered. "The progression of his symptoms points to an environmental cause. He must have caught something somewhere."

"But his parents are always there with him. If he's been somewhere he shouldn't be, he won't tell us with them present." Taub said.

"So find a way to get them out of there." House replied, doing a shooing motion with his hand and giving him a 'duh' expression afterwards.

"Wait wait, hold on. Where are all of you going?" He asked, knitting his eyebrows together in bafflement, after seeing his entire team turned and walked towards the exit.

They immediately stopped their movements and stared at one another.

"I thought you told us to get a history from the patient." Kutner answered.

"And that requires all four of you? I'm sure Thirteen can handle it on her own." House replied, looking pointedly at the aforementioned doctor. "Homie, Minority and Jew here have already done their part so far, it's time for the resident bisexual to step up."

On top of rolling her eyes at House tagging each member of the team, Thirteen let out a noisy breath before turning to push open the glass door.

* * *

Thirteen strode down the hallway en route for the patient's room.

She could see him lying on the bed through the glass walls, with his mother sitting by his side and holding his hand. A man in suit, whom she assumed was the father, was standing at the foot of the bed and leaning forward with his palms on the tray table.

"Hi Gabe, how are you feeling?" She asked once she had stepped into the room.

The pale-faced boy coughed a little before replying. "A little weak."

"What are you gonna do now? A few doctors came in here a couple of hours ago jabbing needles into his body. Is there anything that you are actually doing to help him?" The father questioned, his face turning red with anger.

Thirteen pressed her lips together, a subtle indication of her irritation.

"We're covering all our bases and doing the best we can. As for now, I'm taking him to Radiology to get a scan of his lungs." She said while signalling for the nurse at the reception desk to bring in a wheelchair.

"Third floor, right?" The father asked as he turned and took a step towards the sliding door.

"Sorry, medical personnel only." Thirteen lied.

She carefully got Gabe into the wheelchair with the help of the nurse and wheeled him out of the room, away from his overprotective parents.

Step one - Complete.

Instead of bringing Gabe to Radiology in the third floor, Thirteen brought him down to the lobby.

"I thought we are going to the room with the machine." Gabe said when he found himself being pushed into the cafeteria.

"No, we're not. This is so much better, don't you think?" She replied with a wink. She bought a carton of milk and a few pieces of cookies before they settled down at a table in the far corner.

Thirteen watched with a smile as Gabe munched on a cookie, dipping it into the milk occasionally.

"So Gabe, have you been camping recently? Playing sports outside or anything like that?" She asked, getting down to her task of obtaining the history of his whereabouts.

"I'm not that good at sports, sadly." He replied, his head dropping slightly.

"No hanging out in anywhere new, strange places?" She continued probing while smoothing over the boy's curly red hair in sympathy.

"Can you keep a secret? My parents can't know this. They'll _flip out_." Gabe stressed, looking pleadingly at Thirteen.

"I promise I won't tell your parents. In fact, I can't even if I want to. So where did you go?" She asked as she folded her arms on the table and leaned forward on them.

He hesitated for a moment, contemplating if she could be trusted.

"I was up in the attic of this abandoned house with a group of really cool guys and I fell over. I have the worst luck." He sighed out.

The delicious chocolate cookie he was holding in his hand suddenly seemed unappetizing and he put it back onto the plate.

"People get a little unlucky every now and then. I'm sure you'll have a change of luck pretty soon." Thirteen said, flashing him a reassuring smile.

"No, I'm cursed." Gabe declared in a high-pitched voice. "I'm not kidding. The séance thing the kids did? It spelled out my name, said I was gonna die."

Thirteen cocked and shook her head to dismiss the ridiculous notion. "You're not cursed, Gabe."

"How do you know?" He asked, pouting.

"Because I am."

* * *

**I'm so psyched to be writing again! I know it has been more than a month since this story was first published, so I apologize for taking such a long time to update. I'll do my absolute best to get the next chapter done asap. If you find the case used rather familiar but can't seem to remember, it is taken from an episode in Season 1 titled 'Cursed'.**


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